2 weeks Ago By Natasha Everitt
Gary Lineker has compared Cole Palmer to Lionel Messi after his performance against Newcastle. The Blues saw off the Magpies 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and Palmer was awarded Player of The Match. But that wasn’t the only praise he received, as former England striker Lineker likened Palmer's pass to Pedro Neto for Nicolas Jackson’s goal to the sort produced by prime Messi.
Speaking on the Rest Is Football Podcast , Lineker said: “That pass, the vision and awareness, as well as the weight of pass. “I hate to say it but it was almost [Lionel] Messi-esque in the way that of ‘how did he see that pass?’ “I mean, pwoar, what a talent.” Record eight-time Ballon d’Or Messi regularly split defences apart with unexpected and incredible passes.
And Palmer is likely to be pretty chuffed with being compared to him, given he picked the World Cup winner over Cristiano Ronaldo in a Great of All Time (GOAT) debate at the Professional Football Association awards this summer. Jackson's record-levelling opener was cancelled out by Newcastle’s Alexander Isak less than 15 minutes later. But the man of the moment rose again just after half time to fire his side back into the lead.
He struck the ball sweetly into the bottom left-hand corner to mark his seventh Premier League goal of the season. Pundit and ex-Manchester City star Micah Richards was also full of praise for Palmer on The Rest Is Football. But he’s also praised Chelsea’s manager Enzo Maresca - who took over from Mauricio Pochettino in the summer - for getting his side clicking too.
“What Chelsea did really well at times was use [Robert] Sanchez and sort of create that three, then wait for Newcastle to engage, and then just play round them,” he said. “[Malo] Gusto was playing further up at times, like a no. 10, and it left this big gaping hole in midfield for Cole Palmer to basically just get on [the ball].
“I know we should give credit to Palmer, but it’s the way Maresca has set up his team for Palmer to get on the ball and do what he does so well.” As well as bringing fans to their feet, Palmer also had supporters in hysterics after another hilarious post-match interview - this time about Gianfranco Zola. Chelsea climbed up to fourth after their 2-1 win, before being pushed to fifth after Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool .
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